Need For Naps
by averylucas4ever
Summary: Keiko Izumi hasn't gone through a school day without falling asleep once...in every class. Now her grades are dropping and endangering her place on the basketball team. Kenta suggests Inui become her tutor...now what? Sorry, crappy summary To chocolvr69


**Need For Naps  
**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Prince of Tennis, but maybe I will when I take over the world.

**A/N:** So I had this idea of doing this story one day and started brainstorming, and voila! Here's the result. Hope you like it! Please read and review! Yay! Lots and lots of thanks to chocolvr69 'cause she's awesome.

Now let the story begin!

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**Chapter 1**

**A tutor, huh?  
**

"Izumi-san, do you know the answer?" Minamoto-sensei asked.

Izumi Keiko was sleeping, as usual, in Minamoto Takashi's English class. Every time she had been called on this year, she was found sleeping. Minamoto was ready to give up on asking her questions, but persevered nevertheless. Kudos to him for putting in so much effort.

Luckily, Keiko's best friend, Tsukamoto Ayumi, poked her in the side hard enough to make her jump up and yelp, drawing the attention of everyone in their class. When Keiko cursed in surprise, the whole class snickered but wasn't surprised. Class 2-1 was pretty used to this girl's tendencies to fall asleep, seeing how she did this in Mayama's English class in her first year of middle school. Even as a high school student, old habits die hard.

Minamoto sighed. He wondered if he would ever be able to call on Keiko when her eyes were open and sitting up. If he did, he decided, he would throw a party in the teacher's lounge at lunch. However, the chances of that happening were about as likely an event to occur as the dinosaurs being revived. Which everyone knows is quite impossible.

"Izumi-san, do you know the answer?" Minamoto asked again.

"Uh…I like to play piano and write stories?" Keiko said, holding her side while glaring at Ayumi, who was still laughing at her.

"No, that's not a compound sentence. Does anyone else want to give this a try?" Minamoto continued.

And with that, Keiko went back to sleep. The rest of class dragged on in a similar fashion. Then, at long last, lunch came around.

"Kei-chan, you really should stay awake sometimes. You could learn something. But anyways, how did you not know the answer? I mean, you're half American," Ayumi said while opening her lunch.

"Yeah, I know, but that class is so _boring_. Plus, it's morning. And just because I lived in America for eight years doesn't mean I'm even remotely good at English! Why does everyone automatically assume that?" Kei replied while yawning. She had just woken up from her nap.

"You fall asleep in just about every class except gym, Kei," Ayumi pointed out.

"But that's different. Gym is more exciting," Kei argued, "Plus, we play a lot of basketball so it's actually meaningful."

Keiko's dad was Japanese and her mom was America. She was what some would call a "twinkie." Not that she was ever awake to hear it, though. But even so, she didn't particularly care. She just wanted to play basketball. Growing up in America, she learned to love the sport. Kei started out watching lots of basketball on TV, eventually paying on a community recreation basketball team starting as early as six. At 8, her dad got a job transfer to Japan so she enrolled in an international school to adjust. Now, at 16, she and her brother Kenta both attend Seishun Gakuen Senior High, where she is a second year while Kenta is a freshman.

However, due to her naps during class, her grades were dropping lower and lower. Especially in English. And if her grades weren't high enough, she couldn't stay on the basketball team she loved so much. Ayumi, whom Kei had met in fourth grade after Ayumi was asked to stay after school to tutor Kei because she was sleeping, reminded her of this. She was her best friend ever since she switched schools. Ayumi was Kei's biggest fan at her basketball games and vice versa for Ayumi's choir concerts. She was also like a second mother, much to Kei's annoyance.

Minamoto and the other teachers noticed the decline in her grades, so one day during lunch her teachers got together to discuss what to do with her. Everyone, except her gym teacher, agreed she needed some sort of help to raise her grades. The only reason her gym teacher didn't think this was necessary was because he had Kei during last period gym, the only class she stayed awake in.

"So what kind of help does she need? Tutoring?" Akitaka, Kei's math teacher, asked. He often found her snoozing instead of memorizing formulas.

"Yes, I think she needs a tutor. Should one of us do it?" asked Takami, Kei's science teacher. She found Kei falling asleep during a science experiment, which prompted a scolding about lab safety (she fell asleep during that too).

"But if one of us tutored her, she would just fall asleep and that would be pointless," Azawa added, since she only knew too well how often Kei was asleep in Japanese class.

"So why don't you get a student to tutor her?" Kitazawa suggested.

Everyone looked at Kitazawa, the gym teacher, for a second and then unanimously agreed. The question was, who would do it?

They then decided they would ask Kei to find a tutor herself because there was a chance whoever they chose would just put her to sleep.

That day after basketball practice, Kei was pulled aside by her coach Okada, who said, "Keiko, your teachers talked to me today and said you need to find a tutor. Because your grades are dropping. Fast. And if your grades aren't high enough, you can't stay on this team. You know that both of us don't want that to happen, so please find a tutor to bring your grades up again, OK?"

"A tutor, huh?" Kei wondered out loud.

"You know this wouldn't be necessary if you could just stay awake in class?" Okada sighed. She knew only too well how Kei always slept in class.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll find someone. Don't worry," Kei replied, though she really was worried on the inside. Which was rare for this laid back girl. Originally, she had thought she could ask Ayumi to tutor her. But Ayumi had choir after school and that usually lasted a long time, longer than basketball practice.

So as Kei was packing up her stuff to go wait for Kenta, she pondered this thought. Who would tutor her?

She scanned the tennis courts and found Kenta along with three other boys. They were watching the regulars on the team practice. Judging by what she knew about the regulars when she was in middle school, they were still the same people. Kei didn't really know much about them because she had only gone to their tennis matches when Kenta played in them. She didn't think tennis was really interesting. All people did was hit a little green ball back and forth; where's the excitement in that?

"Ah, nee-san, over here!" Kenta called and waved to Kei.

"Kenta, you done with practice yet?" Kei asked, walking over.

"Well, technically yes. But I like watching the regulars play! They're so amazing, I hope I can play like them one day. Look, Tezuka-buchou and Fuji-senpai are finishing up their practice match right now," Kenta said, watching the regulars in amazement.

Kei yawned. It wasn't that tennis was boring - OK, maybe it was - but Kei just wanted to go home and get this tutoring issue solved. Hence, her impatience.

"Hey, I would love to stay and watch, but we really should get home. I need to tell mom and dad I need a tutor," Kei said.

"Huh? You need a tutor? Why?" Kenta turned to look at her, confusion evident.

"Apparently my grades are getting too low, so if I want to stay on the basketball team then I need to raise my grades," Kei yawned again.

Kenta, who always got good grades and stayed awake during class, was genuinely surprised. He knew, of course, about how teachers read his name during role call with a horrified expression, for they thought he was just like his sister. Always falling asleep. To the teachers' pleasant surprise, he was a great student. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for Kei - well, except in gym. She was just average, a mostly B student with a few Cs. The only class she had ever gotten an A in was gym. Not surprising.

"Kei, who are you going to get to tutor you?" Kenta asked.

"Oh, I dont' know. I can't really think of anyone. Well, except Ayumi. But she's busy," Kei said.

"Hmm...how about Inui-senpai? He's very smart," Kenta suggested.

"Which one's Inui-senpai?" Kei asked. She hadn't been paying attention to a lot of what Kenta said about the regulars earlier.

"Over there." Kenta pointed to a tall boy with spiky hair and square glasses. He was walking toward a red haired boy, a cup of strangely colored liquid in his hand. The boy with red hair backed up instinctively.

"...OK, let's go meet him," Kei said, getting more tired by the moment. She stepped in front of the redhead, blocking Inui.

"Are you Inui?" she asked Inui, who had put his cup down and was reaching for his notebook for information on Kei.

"Yes, that's me." Inui looked at her for a second, then looked at his notebook and said, "I presume you're Izumi Keiko. Class 2-1. Half Japanese, half American. PLays basketball, and has a younger brother named Izumi Kenta. Has a reputation for falling asleep in class all the time."

Kei stared at him for a little while. "...Right, since you seem to know who I am, do you want to be my tutor?"

"Hm?" Inui seemed surprised, along with the boy with red hair (who, by the way, was very grateful for Kei saving him from Inui's juice).

"Can you tutor me?" Kei yawned as she asked again.

Inui thought for a moment. "...OK then. Meet me in the library tomorrow after practice ," he said. After he said this, the redhead ran over to the other regulars and told them of Inui's new title as Kei's tutor.

"Ok, thanks. See you," Kei jogged over to Kenta, who was talking with the other three boys.

"What did Inui-senpai say?" Kenta asked.

"He's my new tutor."

With that, Kei and Kenta left to go home, leaving three freshmen boys and a team of regulars wondering what kind of juice Inui would bring to the tutoring session tomorrow. Poor Kei.

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**A/N:** And that's how it begins. What do you think? Like? Dislike? Review please :D And add something about who she should be paired with (if any) because I frankly have no idea.

By the way, this chapter has been posted as a treat. FOR FINISHING THIS SCHOOL YEAR. WOOHOO!!

Don't know how often I'll update because my summer's pretty busy too, but hopefully often.

THANKS GUYS!~


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